


Striking Rich

by allysonandrews1982 (FonzFan82)



Category: Original Work
Genre: Decisions, Surprises, Writing Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-20 21:34:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18533593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FonzFan82/pseuds/allysonandrews1982
Summary: One day, Jared McLean learns he has a surprise. What kind of surprise is it? Find out. Writing prompt





	Striking Rich

At first, we thought the black liquid was oil, that we’d struck it rich and that we’d be able to retire and live in leisure. We actually started writing down all the ways we’d spend the money.

Our first choice was: taking a trip around the world.

Our second choice would be buying a mansion. Our third choice might be buying an expensive car.

We have other things that haven’t been agreed on. Since my wife, Paige, and I both retired at the end of June last year. We do happen to have a daughter whose name is Gianna.

She’s in her early forties and now has her own family. My father, Phillip was also excited about the news about striking rich.

He’d never had a family like that when growing up. Even Dad passed it out to my mother, Diana.

Both Mom and Dad liked all the ideas that Paige and I came up with. They especially liked the idea about buying a mansion.

Paige and I were comfortable with the money before striking rich. It’s a good thing neither of us spent the money right away.

Paige and I agreed it was a good idea to wait until we both agreed on something.

We also wanted to build a swimming pool if our choice was moving into a mansion.

I’d often thought what it would be like to have a lot of money to do with all the ideas that came to mind.

Paige and I both agreed that if we decided on buying the mansion that Gianna could have her family move in with us, if you know what I mean. Gianna has only three children who are only teenagers.

Fourteen and sixteen. Only two out of three children are identical twins.

The black liquid came from a pen that I was writing a bill to the cable company for television.

I was surprised to learn that the pen had oil to make it happen that would have it.

We told a bank teller about it the next day, and all he did was laugh. I understood that. He came up with the amount of forty million dollars! Now we had to figure it out on the ideas my wife and I had.

I was in the car with Paige one day and we were finished running our errands.

We liked Mom and Dad’s idea of moving to a mansion. This is why we are talking about it now.

We decided to go ahead with the expensive car idea that came to mind while making a list when we first found out about the oil.

I thought of something.

“Paige?”

“Yes, Jared?”

“I think I changed my mind on the mansion idea. It would be a lot of work, but I’m not agreeing with my folks right now.”

“What do you want to do instead?” Paige asked.

“The expensive car,” I answered, “but we can dream about a mansion.”

She agreed.

“You should’ve said something to me when telling your family the news,” I told her.

“I know. I didn’t think it was important right away.”

“We all get that way now and then.”

Paige and I are grateful about not spending that money right away. Some people spend it immediately.

Gianna said to us when we found out about striking rich that the kids have been excited on seeing what would happen to spend the money.

The grandchildren think we might spend it on them and nobody else. That would never happen.

We wanted to do something different for a change. None of our friends have done this sort of thing.

Only a couple of them know about the oil that I discovered. They kept asking questions how that happened. All I did tell them I don’t know how that happened.

“Jared, it makes me fell like we’re a little bit of the Beverly Hillbillies show.”

“You mean about becoming rich?”

I have seen that show years ago, so I know where she’s coming from.

“Yes,” she answered.

“I never thought of it that way.”

“Neither have I until now.”

“I thought that show was crazy.”

Paige nodded in agreement.

We’re in our late sixties to seventy.

We kept talking until there wasn’t anymore we could come up with.

We had enough for now.

“I can’t come up with anything else.”

“Neither can I,” I agreed.

“We can wait until next time to add more.”

Again I agreed.

Some people who are retired like us travel all the time. No wonder we thought of it.

We still wanted to drive around Denver to get more ideas. With forty million dollars there’s a lot you can do with it.

So I put the book and pencil down. We both decided that Gianna wouldn’t get involved on helping us. We want to do this on our own.

We got up from the couch. Getting stiff, I had to stretch.

It feels good when you do that.

At least waiting is a good thing on stuff we wanted to do with forty million dollars.

When we discovered the oil, we thought at first was winning the lottery. We were wrong.

At first our friends and family didn’t believe us, which was also believable to understand.

I was surprised and shocked at the same time.

We will put this away for a while and get back to it next time. It will be there waiting.

We were only writing down ideas on what type of car that was waiting for us to buy.

We usually like Nissan, but would like to try something different like a USV.

I spoke up.

“Paige?”

“Yes?”

“I think I want to try a different brand on cars,” I told her.

“What are you thinking of, Jared?”

“USV,” I answered.

“It’s a nice change from what we have now.”

I nodded my head.

“Do you want to get back into the car now and see what is available at the dealership?”

“Let’s wait for another hour or so,” she answered.

I looked at my watch. It looked like the moon would be coming up soon. I looked at the watch I had on. It told me the time right now was only six – forty – five.

“I know I want to look at the cars today, but it’s only six – forty – five. Let’s do it tomorrow instead,” I said.

“Makes sense. They’re probably closed by now.”

“Probably.”

Tomorrow would be a better day to drive around for cars at the dealership. It’s fun to look around even when you aren’t shopping.

So first thing in the morning, we would do it. They usually open about nine – thirty or so. We would probably do that.

Both Paige and I went to bed around the usual time for us, which happens to be between nine – fifteen to ten. It was supposed to be a nice day tomorrow. It was only in the early seventies for us today.

So we stayed up for the news until ten tonight. We usually watch the news before going to bed every night.

When we finished watching the news tonight, it was a little before ten. This is what most people do before going to bed is watch the news.

We both slept through the night without waking up once. It was only a little after seven – thirty when I woke up. Paige was already awake, which I knew.

She was making coffee when I came downstairs.

“Do you still want to go to the dealership and see what car we want to buy?” she asked me.

“Yes. How about if we leave in another hour or so?”

“That’s fine with me,” she said.

We both read the newspaper while waiting until nine o’clock. We don’t read the stuff out loud. Quiet time works for us better.

When it was eight – thirty, both Paige and I grabbed our car keys, locked the front door, and headed for her car. The car she has is a little over fifteen years old. We might give it away and take this new car. It’s about time one of us gets a new car.

We have thought of getting a new car for quite a while now, so no wonder it’s added on the list of what we wanted to do with the forty million dollars.

“Paige, do you want a new car today and we can sell this old one today?”

“That’s fine by me. I think you mean as a trade.”

I nodded.

“Exactly. I’m glad I thought of it.”

“Me too. Let’s see what the dealer has to say about taking my car in and getting the new one.”

We both put our seatbelts on when once in the car. It’s not often we listen to the radio unless we’re on vacation when driving is involved. We’ll come across the talk stations and listen for a while, but not the entire program.

Neither of us talked on the way to the dealership. When we got out of the car and locked the doors. Since I did the driving, I had the keys in my pocket. We usually do that when we go into town to shop or whatever and put them in the pockets.

We didn’t see many cars in the parking lot when arriving.

“Paige, do you think we’re the first ones here?”

“I was going to ask the same thing.”

We didn’t say anything else when we walked inside. The name of the dealership we visited was a car dealer a friend and his wife go to once in a while to look at the new cars. They’re like us – look around when you don’t spend anything.

There weren’t many people at all when arriving inside. The place was small, but it looked like they were about to start remolding just now from what Paige and I saw.

I don’t think we plan to do any of that anytime soon. Our house isn’t very old, maybe about six or seven years.

The man who waited on us was dark blonde hair with light black eyes. Not going to mention how tall he is so I’m not going to share that information with you.

The man looked in our direction.

“Hello. Welcome,” he said.

“Hello,” Paige returned.

“Is there anything I can do for you folks?”

I saw his nametag – Jim.

“Yes, Jim. We’re looking for a new car,” I told him.

“What sort of car? Is there anything wrong with the one you have now?”

“No. We think it’s time to sell this car and trade it in for a new one,” I answered.

“How old is that car of yours?”

I told him.

“Yes, we can trade your car in for a new one today if that’s what you want.”

“Yes,” both of us said together.

“All right. What type of car are you both looking for?” Jim asked.

“We usually get Nissan, but want to try something new,” I told him.

“What kind of car are you looking for on trying something new?”

Jim let me do the talking. I wanted Paige to do the talking since it’s her car.

“You can tell him, Paige, since it’s your car.”

She did what I told her.

“Let me take a look at your car and then we’ll look at the cars that are for sale.”

He followed behind us so we could show him the car.

“It’s still in good condition and there’s no problems with the car. Since we had money that came in recently and decided to go use it on something like a new car,” Paige told Jim.

“All right. I don’t need to know your entire story. This is good enough for me. Let me see what I can find for you folks.”

So Paige and I followed Jim until the three of us came to an USV.

“That’s the type of car we’re looking at, Jim. The USV,” I said.

“USV is a good car. So you want to trade in the Nissan for the USV?”

“Exactly,” she told him.

Now she was talking. We didn’t bother mentioning to him on the oil story, so he would probably just laugh at us like the bank teller did when the news was discovered. It was a good thing the striking rich discovery didn’t make the news.

Maybe my wife was right – it feels like the Beverly Hillbillies television program.

I’m sure some people who were born with money feel the exact same way we do right now.

We followed Jim to the cars that were available to be sold.

He told us each of the cars’ information and showed my wife and I.

We looked at the colors white, black, tan and gray. Paige and I saw a few cars that we thought would be a good choice.

“Since we have a lot of money now, Jared, we should have enough to pay for the car,” she told me.

“True that.”

So Jim continued on with the information and told us the price on each vehicle.

We saw a few gray and tan cars we liked. White isn’t our kind of color that the money would be spent on.

So she and I are mostly looking at between tan and gray. We still looked at the black and white cars by following Jim.

So the three of us kept walking by some of the cars a few times before making our minds up.

“Paige, what do you think of this one right here?” I asked, pointing to a two – car tan USV.

She came closer to my side so she could see for herself on a closer look.

“I like it. What’s the price, Jim?” Paige asked.

He told us. That’s when a woman was walking close to us.

“Jim?”

“Yes? Is there anything I can do for you?”

“Yes.”

She did the talking while Paige and I looked at the price on the cars that we looked at while waiting.

“This should work on the price since we have plenty of money,” I told my wife.

“True.”

The price on the tan two – door told us it was about five thousand dollars. Paige and I weren’t planning on using up all the money. Yes, all forty million dollars is in the bank. At least we’ll just write Jim a check. It’d be hard if we did cash. If we did give him cash, it would be blackmail, so we like writing checks instead.

When the woman left, Jim rejoined us.

“Have you decided on a price that would fit?” Jim asked.

“Yes,” Paige said and showed him.

Glad I stuck around. I like to help on decisions. I’m about average on that.

The three of us agreed on the first tan car we looked at earlier. I let Paige write down the check for the car since it’s going to be hers. At least she’ll let me do the driving in this new car once in a while.

When paying for the car, Jim gave us the new car keys and then she gave him hers.

“Just let me know if anything goes wrong.”

“We will,” I told him.

So we tested the car out a few times before purchasing it. At least that’s a smart thing to do.

The car was the one we wanted and it somehow told us it had Paige’s name on it. The seats in the car were leather, but the color matched the outside of the car. Everything has to match, right?

So the both of us drove around town for a while before heading home. At least we’re happy with it so far.


End file.
